313 The Edict of Milan | Christian History Magazine Home / Magazine / Issues / Issue 28 / 313 The Edict of Milan 313 The Edict of Milan Pintrest by David F. Wright The agreement shifted Christianity from being an illicit, persecuted sect to being a welcome—and soon dominant—religion of the Roman Empire. [Christian History originally published this article in Christian History Issue 28 in 1990 ] It came out of a two-man summit meeting in the northern Italian city of Milan in January 313. The two men were the Roman emperors—Constantine ruling the West and Licinius the East. They met “under happy auspices,” as their joint communiqué put it. After years of power struggles for the imperial purple, the Roman world enjoyed a degree of peace. And after the failure of the Great Persecution (initiated by the emperors Diocletian and Galerius in 303304), the Christian church had begun to recover its stability. Constantine and Licinius turned their minds to matters affecting the general welfare of the Empire.

They determined first of all to attend to “the reverence paid to the Divinity.” This required a guarantee of full religious freedom to the Christians, setting them on a par with those who followed other religions. The so-called Edict of Milan provided for this. It marks the Roman Empire’s final abandonment of the policies of persecution of Christians. The age of the martyrs was at an end. The transition to the era of the “Christian Empire” had begun. Provisions of the “Edict" The conference at Milan undoubtedly resulted in a concordat. But its terms are known to us only from a rescript issued six months later by Licinius. (This rescript was sent from his capital in Nicomedia—now Izmit in Turkey, just east of the Bosporus— to the governor of the nearby province of Bithynia. The Christian writer Lactantius has preserved its original Latin, while the church historian Eusebius gives it in Greek.

) Here are the rescript’s main provisions: "Our purpose is to grant both to the Christians and to all others full authority to follow whatever worship each person has desired, whereby whatsoever Divinity dwells in heaven may be benevolent and propitious to us, and to all who are placed under our authority. Therefore we thought it salutary and most proper to establish our purpose that no person whatever should be refused complete toleration, who has given up his mind either to the cult of the Christians or to the religion which he personally feels best suited to himself. It is our pleasure to abolish all conditions whatever which were embodied in former orders directed to your office about the Christians, that every one of those who have a common wish to follow the religion of the Christians may from this moment freely and unconditionally proceed to observe the same without any annoyance or disquiet." The rescript goes out of its way to ensure evenhanded treatment for all: “no diminution must be made from the honor of any religion. “ But the strongly pro-Christian flavor is tasted in the instructions to restore to the Christians all property that had been appropriated during the persecution.

This applied to property belonging to individual Christians as well as to churches—and without regard for the present owners, who could apply to the state for compensation. In implementing these rulings the governor was to give the Christians his “most effective intervention,” making sure the terms were published to all. These actions, Constantine and Licinius concluded, would ensure that “the Divine favor toward us, which we have already experienced in so many affairs, shall continue for all time to give us prosperity and success, together with happiness for the state." Significance of the “Edict" In reality, the subjects of Constantine in the Western Empire already enjoyed the toleration and property rights spelled out in this rescript. Nevertheless, the “Edict’s” significance stands unchallenged (even though we must recognize the inaccuracy of its traditional title, since it was not an edict). Only a few months earlier Constantine had become the first Roman emperor to throw in his lot with the Christians. Although the Milan summit decreed only strict parity for Christians alongside other religionists, hindsight reads between the lines and discerns the hint of things to come. Before the end of the fourth century, orthodox Christianity had become the sole official religion of the Roman Empire.

For Christianity, the changes were momentous. To this day state churches perpetuate the alignment between Christianity and the Empire worked out in the fourth century. Meanwhile, Christians in independent, “free” churches have long regarded the Constantinian revolution as little short of the fall of Christianity, almost as calamitous as the fall of Adam and Eve. One thing is clear: The unqualified toleration for all decreed at Milan did not last long, nor has it often prevailed in later centuries. The rescript’s noble sentiments surely warrant our attention today for that reason alone. David F. Wright is dean of the faculty of divinity at the University of Edinburgh and a member of the advisory board of Christian History. Edict of Milan Christiantimelines.com and Studychurchhistory.com presents Summaries of Christianity 150+ summaries at christiantimelines.com/summaries.htm or click at bottom An Edict to End All Persecutions A common misconception is that Christians were constantly persecuted by the Roman Empire: Just as Jesus had died a Roman-style death, so his followers were hounded, persecuted, and martyred by the Roman emperors.

Yet the Roman Empire did not constantly persecute Christians, instead the reaction of the Roman Emperors was one of ebb and flow; one Roman Emperor might threaten Christianity, while the next barely noticed it. And this back and forth attitude lasted until one emperor became a Christian, and decreed that Christians would never be persecuted again. Jesus was put to death under the rule of the emperor Tiberius, however, the news made little or no impact on the emperor. It was a local matter which the local Roman leader (Pilate) handled; those situations did not bubble up to the level of emperor. The first emperor to persecute Christians was Nero (54-68). In the year 64 a fire swept through Rome. Many blamed Nero and, attempting to avoid suspicion, he blamed Christians. What resulted was a local (Rome only) persecution of Christians.

The persecution was so severe, though, that the Roman Tacitus wrote, "Although they were criminals who deserved the most severe punishment [because they practiced a ï¿½newï¿½ religion not because they started the fire], yet a feeling of pity arose since they were put to death not for the public good but to satisfy the rage of an individual [Nero]." The first empire-wide persecution occurred under Domitian (81-96)(The Apostle John was placed on the island of Patmos during the reign of Domitian.). This persecution included torture, exile, and death. The following emperor, Nerva (96-98), reversed Domitianï¿½s policy. The next 200+ years continued in this manner: periods of persecution interspersed with periods of apathy. To be sure, a few Christians were persecuted and even martyred under almost every emperor, but many of these were local and the emperor played no part. If individual Christians drew notice to themselves then they could be "disciplined." But as long as they practiced their faith quietly, they went unpunished. Only a few emperors developed a hatred of Christians.

Those emperors who did actively persecute Christians were scattered over a long period: Domitian (81-96), Marcus Aurelius (161-180), Decius (249-151), Valerian (253-259), and finally Diocletian (284-305)/Galerius (died 311). These final two carried out one persecution; Diocletian initiated the persecution in 303 and Galerius continued it. But, in an odd twist of history, Galerius became ill and issued a new policy of toleration on Apr 30, 311. He included the following request: "In return for our tolerance, Christians will be required to pray to their god for us." He died five days later. After some infighting among potential successors, Constantine eventually became Emperor in 312: the first Christian Emperor.

And in 313 he issued the edict to end all persecutions, the Edict of Milan: "We therefore announce that, notwithstanding any provisions concerning the Christians in our former instructions, all who choose that religion are to be permitted to continue therein, without any let or hindrance, and are not to be in any way troubled or molested." After 290 years, Christians could finally practice their faith in peace. And 65 years later, in 380, Emperor Theodosius I decreed that Christianity was the only accepted religion in the Roman Empire. ï¿½2004 Mark Nickens Questions/comments contact Mark at drnickens@triad.rr.com . To go to Summaries Home, click here . To go to the Fourth Century, click here . Edict of Milan | Christianity Knowledge Base | Fandom powered by Wikia The Edict of Milan was a letter signed by emperors Constantine and Licinius that proclaimed religious toleration in the Roman Empire . The letter was issued in 313 AD, shortly after the conclusion of the Diocletian Persecution .

History Edit The Edict of Milan was issued in 313 AD, in the names of the Roman Emperors Constantine the Great (Constantine I), who ruled the western parts of the Empire, and Licinius, who ruled the east. The two augusti were in Milan to celebrate the wedding of Constantine's sister with Licinius. Remains of the Imperial palace of Mediolanum ( Milan ). The imperial palace (mainly built by Maximian , colleague of Diocletian) was a large complex with several buildings, gardens, courtyards, for Emperor's private and public life, for his court, family and imperial bureaucracy A previous edict of toleration had been recently issued by the emperor Galerius from Serdica and posted up at Nicomedia on 13, May 311 . By its provisions, the Christians , who had "followed such a caprice and had fallen into such a folly that they would not obey the institutes of antiquity", were granted an indulgence.

Wherefore, for this our indulgence, they ought to pray to their God for our safety, for that of the republic, and for their own, that the commonwealth may continue uninjured on every side, and that they may be able to live securely in their homes. By the Edict of Milan the meeting places and other properties which had been confiscated from the Christians and sold or granted out of the government treasury were to be returned: ...the same shall be restored to the Christians without payment or any claim of recompense and without any kind of fraud or deception... It directed the provincial magistrates to execute this order at once with all energy, so that public order may be restored and the continuance of the Divine favor may "preserve and prosper our successes together with the good of the state." The actual edicts have not been retrieved inscribed upon stone.

However, they are quoted at length in a historical work with a theme of divine retribution, Lactantius ' De mortibus persecutorum ("Deaths of the persecutors"), who gives the Latin text of both Galerius's Edict of Toleration as posted up at Nicomedia on 30 April 311 AD, and of Licinius's letter of toleration and restitution addressed to the governor of Bithynia, posted up also at Nicomedia on 13 June 313 AD. Eusebius of Caesarea translated both into Greek in his History of the Church ( Historia Ecclesiastica ). His version of the letter of Licinius must derive from a copy as posted up in Palestine (probably at Caesarea ) in the late summer or early autumn of 313 AD, but the origin of his copy of Galerius's edit of 311 AD is unknown, since that does not seem to have been promulgated in Palestine.

Persecution in the Early Church: A Gallery of the Persecuting Emperors | Christian History Magazine Home / Magazine / Issues / Issue 27 / Persecution in the Early Church: A Gallery of the Persecuting Emperors Persecution in the Early Church: A Gallery of the Persecuting Emperors Roman emperors who persecuted Christians. [Christian History originally published this article in Christian History Issue 27 in 1990 ] From A.D. 30 to A.D. 311, a period in which 54 emperors ruled the Empire, only about a dozen took the trouble to harass Christians. Furthermore, not until Decius (249–251) did any deliberately attempt an Empire-wide persecution. Until then, persecution came mainly at the instigation of local rulers, albeit with Rome’s approval. Nonetheless, a few emperors did have direct and, for Christians, unpleasant dealings with this faith. Here are the most significant of those rulers.

Claudius (41–54) Perhaps the first to persecute Christians—inadvertently Sickly, ill—mannered, and reclusive, Claudius devoted his early days to the quiet study of Etruscan and Carthaginian history, among other subjects. Understandably, he was an embarrassment to the activist imperial family. But the murder of his nephew, the emperor Gaius, in 41 propelled him to the throne nonetheless. During his reign, he wisely avoided potentially costly foreign wars, extended Roman citizenship at home, and showed tolerance toward a variety of religions. However, “since the Jews were continually making disturbances at the instigations of Chrestus, he [Claudius] expelled them from Rome. . . . ” So writes the Roman historian Suetonius about events in Rome around 52. “Chrestus” may have been a thorn in the side of Roman politicos anxious to be rid of him and his cohorts. Or “Chrestus” may be the way uninformed bureaucrats pronounced the name about which Jews argued: Christus. Such arguments between Jews and Christians were not unknown (e.g., in Ephesus; Acts 19).

Claudius likely and inadvertently was the first emperor, then, to persecute Christians (who were perceived as a Jewish sect)—for, it seems, disturbing the peace. Nero (54–68) Savage madman in whose reign Peter and Paul were martyred Nero, a man with light blue eyes, thick neck, protruding stomach, and spindly legs, was a crazed and cruel emperor, a pleasure-driven man who ruled the world by whim and fear. It just goes to show the difference an upbringing makes. His mother, the plotting Agrippina, managed to convince her husband, Claudius, to adopt her son Nero and put him, ahead of Claudius’ own son, first in line for the throne. Maternal concern not satisfied, she then murdered Claudius, and Nero ruled the world at age 17. The young Nero, having been tutored by the servile philosopher and pedophile Seneca, was actually repulsed by the death penalty. But he resourcefully turned this weakness into strength: he eventually had his mother stabbed to death for treason and his wife Octavia beheaded for adultery.

(He then had Octavia’s head displayed for his mistress, Poppaea, whom years later he kicked to death when she was pregnant ) The Senate made thank offerings to the gods for this restoration of public morality. Unfortunately, that is but the tip of the bloody and treacherous iceberg of Nero’s reign. Yet such activities overshadow the few constructive things he attempted, albeit without success: the abolition of indirect taxes (to help farmers), the building of a Corinthian canal, and the resettlement of people who had lost their homes in the Great Fire of Rome in 64. Nero tried to pin the blame for that fire on the city’s small Christian community (regarded as a distinct, dissident group of Jews), and so, appropriately, he burned many of them alive. Peter and Paul were said to have been martyred as a result. But the rumors persisted that Nero had sung his own poem “The Sack of Troy” (he did not “fiddle”) while enjoying the bright spectacle he had ignited. That business about singing was not unreasonable, for Nero had for years made a fool of himself by publicly playing the lyre and singing before, literally, command performances. Political turmoil finally forced the troubled emperor to commit suicide.

His last words were, “What a showman the world is losing in me!” Domitian (81–96) Does Revelation depict him as a hideous beast? The historian Pliny called Domitian the beast from hell who sat in its den, licking blood. In the Book of Revelation, John of the Apocalypse may have referred to Domitian when he described a beast from the abyss who blasphemes heaven and drinks the blood of the saints. Domitian repelled invasions from Dacia (modern—day Rumania)—something later emperors would have increasing difficulty doing. He also was a master builder and adroit administrator, one of the best who ever governed the Empire. Suetonius, who hated Domitian, had to admit that “he took such care to exercise restraint over the city officials and provincial governors that at no time were these more honest or just.” But there was something wrong with Domitian. He enjoyed catching flies and stabbing them with a pen. He liked to watch gladiatorial fights between women and dwarfs. And during his reign he was so suspicious of plots against his life, the number of imperial spies and informers proliferated, as did the number of casualties among suspect Roman officials.

Domitian was the first emperor to have himself officially titled in Rome as “God the Lord.” He insisted that other people hail his greatness with acclamations like “Lord of the earth,” “Invincible,” “Glory,” “Holy,” and “Thou Alone.” When he ordered people to give him divine honors, Jews, and no doubt Christians, balked. The resulting persecution of Jews is well-documented; that of Christians is not. However, the beast that the author of Revelation describes, as well as the events in the book, are perhaps best interpreted as hidden allusions to the rule of Domitian. In addition, Flavius Clemens, consul in 95, and his wife, Flavia Domitilla, were executed and exiled, respectively, by Domitian’s orders; many historians suspect this was because they were Christians. But what goes around, comes around. An ex—slave of Clemens, Stephanus, was mobilized by some of Domitian’s enemies and murdered him.

Trajan (98–117) Skilled ruler who established policies for treating Christians So well did Trajan rule that senators and emperors of the later Empire wished that new emperors should be “more fortunate than Augustus, better than Trajan.” Trajan began his rule intent on conquests that would excel those of his hero Julius Caesar. Although he did not succeed, his conquest of Dacia turned out to be the last major conquest of ancient Rome. Between military campaigns, Trajan found time to be an effective, albeit conservative, civilian administrator, protecting the privileges of the senate. He is also known for the impressive public works he undertook, especially his Aqua Trajana, the last of the aqueducts to serve Rome; Trajan’s Baths, which included soaring concrete arches, apses, and vaults; and the complex and magnificent Forum of Trajan. A series of letters with Bithynian governor Pliny display Trajan’s concern for the welfare of the provinces. Unfortunately for Christians, this concern was combined with suspicious preoccupation with state security and a tendency to interfere in internal affairs of ostensibly self-governing cities.

In one letter he tells Pliny how to deal with Christians “They are not to be hunted out. [Although] any who are accused and convicted should be punished, with the proviso that if a man says he is not a Christian and makes it obvious by his actual conduct—namely, by worshiping our gods—then, however suspect he may have been with regard to the past, he should gain pardon from his repentance. ” Even though relatively temperate, the great Trajan became the first emperor known to persecute Christians as fully distinct from the Jews. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was perhaps the best known to have suffered death during his reign. Marcus Aurelius (161–180) Great Stoic philosopher whose reign fueled anti-Christian hostilities Marcus Aurelius actively pursued military campaigns nearly his entire reign. From 161 to 167, Rome battled the invading Parthians in Syria. To repel Germanic tribes who were marauding Italy and then retreating across the Danube, Marcus personally conducted a punitive expedition from 167–173. On an expedition to extend Rome’s northern borders, he suddenly died in 180 at his military headquarters.

This is not, of course, the Marcus Aurelius we’ve come to know and love. That Marcus ruminated eloquently in his philosophical Meditations. Having converted to Stoicism early in life, these personal reflections display lofty and bracing austerity: we must show patient long—suffering; our existence on this earth is fleeting and transitory. Yet, there is also this humane strain in Marcus: all men and women share the divine spark, so they are brothers and sisters. “Men exist for each other,” he wrote. “Then either improve them, or put up with them.” As for himself, he tried to improve them. It was during his reign that the Institutes of Gaius, an elementary handbook about which our modern knowledge of classical Roman law is based, was written. Also, numerous measures were taken to soften the harshness of the law against the weak and helpless. Except those Christians. Officially, Marcus took the position of his predecessor Trajan, also followed by Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. But his philosophical mentors convinced him that Christianity was a dangerous revolutionary force, preaching gross immoralities. So under Marcus, anti-Christian literature flourished for the first time, most notably Celsus’s The True Doctrine.

More regrettably, Marcus allowed anti-Christian informers to proceed more easily than in the past, with the result that fierce persecutions broke out in various regions. In Lyons in 177, the local bishop was martyred, bringing Irenaeus to the office. In addition, Justin, the first Christian philosopher, was martyred during Marcus’s reign. During the reign of the magnanimous, philosopher—king Marcus Aurelius, then, Christian blood flowed more profusely than ever before. Septimius Severus (193–211) Consummate soldier in whose reign Perpetua was killed Severus was a soldier, first and last. He militarily dispensed with Pescennius Niger, rival emperor in the east, in 195, and then with Clodius Albinus in 197, rival emperor in the West. In 208 he set out for Britain to shore up its defenses, and on that trip succumbed to illness in 211.

At death, he is said to have summoned his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, and said, “Keep on good terms with each other, be generous to the soldiers, and take no heed of anyone else.” That generosity to soldiers was one of Severus’s trademarks. During his reign he raised their pay 67 percent and ennobled the military so that it became a promising path for many different careers. In addition, the deity most popular with soldiers, the sun-god Mithras, began to edge out the competition in the Roman pantheon. During the first part of his reign, Severus was not unfriendly toward Christians. Some members of his household, in fact, professed the faith, and he entrusted the rearing of his son, Caracalla, to a Christian nurse. However, in 202 Severus issued an edict that forbade further conversions to Judaism and Christianity. A persecution followed, especially in North Africa and Egypt. The North African theologian Tertullian penned his famous apologetic works during this period, but to no avail. Among others, the dramatic martyrdom of Perpetua and her servant Felicitas occurred under Severus.

Clement of Alexandria also perished, as did the father of Origen. (Tradition holds that Origen, in his youthful ardor, wished to share his father’s fate, but his resourceful mother prevented his leaving the house by hiding his clothes. ) But the persecution ended at Severus’s death, and except for a brief bout under Maximinus (235–238), Christians were free from persecution for some 50 years. Decius (249–251) Leader of the first Empire-wide persecution For decades, Roman emperors had become increasingly concerned with the ragged edges of the Empire and the invading barbarian tribes that harassed them. Decius, from a village near the Danube, at the northern frontier of the Empire, recognized the military dimensions of the problem but perceived some spiritual ones as well. He was concerned that traditional polytheism was weakening, and thought a resurrection of devotion to the deified Roman rulers of the past would help restore Roman strength. Naturally, monotheistic Christians stood in the way. Although they still constituted a small minority, their efficient and self-contained organization, with no need of the state, irritated him.

Consequently, Decius became the first emperor to initiate an Empire-wide persecution of Christians, apparently one with intensity. After executing Pope Fabian he is said to have remarked, “I would far rather receive news of a rival to the throne than of another bishop of Rome.” Although he did not actually order Christians to give up their faith, he did expect them to perform one pagan religious observance. When undertaken, Christians would receive a Certificate of Sacrifice (libellus) from the local Sacrificial Commission and so be cleared of suspicion of undermining the religious unity of the Empire. As expected, many Christians succumbed to this pressure; others paid bribes to receive the certificate. But many refused to compromise and died as a result. Origen was arrested and tortured during this time. Though released, he died within a few years. Decius, a not—incompetent general, died in Scythia Minor (in modern—day Bulgaria and Rumania) while engaging in battle, the other tactic he thought necessary to shore up the troubled Empire. Valerian (253–260) He blamed Christians for the Empire’s woes Valerian seems to have been honest and well intentioned, but he inherited an empire nearly out of control.

Plague and civil strife raged within the provinces. At the eastern borders, Germanic tribesmen invaded with greater efficiency and more numbers. Meanwhile, attacks from the north were underway. Valerian, recognizing that one emperor could not simultaneously defend north and east, extended in 256–257 the principle of collegiate rule to his son and colleague Gallienus, who was already fully occupied to the north. To divert attention from the troubles that beset the Empire, Valerian blamed the Christians. In August 257 he intensified Decius’s policies by ordering clergy to sacrifice to the gods of the state (although, with usual Roman pragmatism, they were not prohibited from worshiping Jesus Christ in private.) A year later clergy became liable to capital punishment. Pope Sixtus II and St. Lawrence were subsequently burned to death in Rome, and Cyprian was executed at Carthage. In addition, the property of Christian laity, especially that of senators and equites (a class immediately below senators) was confiscated, and Christian tenants of imperial estates were condemned to the mines. In 259, the Persians, under Shapur I, launched a second series of attacks in Mesopotamia.

(In the first, 254–256, they had captured and plundered 37 cities.) Valerian took an army into Mesopotamia to drive Shapur back from the beseiged city of Edessa. However, in May 260, Valerian was taken prisoner. In Michael Grant’s words, “The capture of a Roman emperor by a foreign foe was an unparalleled catastrophe, the nadir of Roman disgrace.” Fortunately, soon after Valerian’s capture, in an attempt to win the favor of eastern Christians against the Persians, Gallienus lifted the edicts against Christians. Diocletian (284–305) Gifted organizer who led the Great Persecution to extinguish Christiantiy Diocletian was the most remarkable imperial organizer since Augustus, and that talent, unfortunately, was not lost on Christians. He is most famous for his reconstruction of the Empire into a Tetrarchy. The Empire was divided between four men, two Augusti and, under them, two Caesars. However, the multiplying of ruling authorizes did not ease the transition of rulers, as Diocletian had hoped, but only made for more strife.

Diocletian also presided over a complete reconstruction of the Empire’s military system, which included the garnering of enormous taxes to pay for its half—million soldiers, a huge increase from the previous century. He tried to insure that tax burdens were equitably distributed, but for all its fairness, the new system tended to freeze people in their professions and social positions, and led, on paper, to a thoroughgoing totalitarian state (in practice, however, there was no way to fully implement the new rules). Diocletian’s gift for mass organization, unfortunately, extended to things religious and patriotic. In 303, encouraged by his Caesar Galerius, and attempting to rouse patriotic feeling, Diocletian returned to hounding Christians, even though his wife, Prisca, belonged to the faith. It was the first time in almost 50 years that an emperor had taken the trouble. Yet, as never before, the motive of this Great Persecution was the total extinction of Christianity. It was, it seems, the final struggle between the old and new orders, and therefore the fiercest. The first of Diocletion’s edicts prohibited all Christian worship and commanded that churches and Christian books be destroyed.

Two further edicts, required in the eastern provinces, ordered clergy to be arrested unless they sacrificed to pagan deities. By 304 this edict was extended to all Christians and was particularly vicious in Africa, under Diocletian co-Augustus Maximian. After a serious illness in 304, Diocletian took the unprecedented step of abdicating the throne. Although called back for a brief period, he retired to farming in Salonae in Dalmatia (in modern-day Yugoslavia). The persecutions continued under Galerius, now promoted to Augustus. But falling seriously ill in 311, Galerius and his fellow emperors issued an edict canceling the persecution of Christians. The following year, Constantine emerged triumphant in the West after the battle at the Milvian Bridge. In 313 he and Licinius, soon to control the Eastern Empire, issued the Edict of Milan, which decreed full legal toleration of Christianity. For all intents and purposes, no Roman emperor harassed Christians again. CH Mark Galli is associate editor of Leadership Journal.

Constantine The Great: Roman Emperor, Christian Saint, History's Turning Point | Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese Constantine The Great: Roman Emperor, Christian Saint, History's Turning Point by Robert Arakaki "Tell me the history of Christianity and I can tell you your theology." This is especially true with a controversial figure like Constantine. Where Roman Catholics present him as laying the foundation for the Papacy, Protestants see him as the one responsible for leading the early Church away from the simplicity of the pure gospel and turning it into an institutional Church. However, blaming Constantine for the fall of the Church is a double-edged sword that cuts in both directions. If Protestants accuse Constantine of tampering with the Church, how do they know that Constantine did not tamper with the Bible? The problem with the "fall of the Church" argument is that it opens the possibility of a radical discontinuity between present-day Christianity and the early Church. This danger can be seen in one of today's most popular bestsellers, The DaVinci Code. In the middle of the book (Chapter 55) Sir Leigh Teabing gives Sophie Neveu a brief synopsis of the "history" of Christianity.

In it he makes the following points about Constantine: Constantine was a lifelong pagan who was baptized against his will on his deathbed. Constantine made Christianity the official Roman religion solely for political gain. Christianity is a hybrid religion, the result of Constantine's fusing the pagan cult of Sol Invictus with Christianity. This blending can be seen in Constantine's changing the Christian day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. Under Constantine's influence, the Council of Nicea, by a small majority, turned a mortal prophet into the divine Son of God. Constantine ordered the making of the Bible that would reinforce the Council's decision to make Jesus the divine Son of God, and at the same time ordered the destruction of opposing documents. Personally, I thought the book was a lot of fun to read, but as church history it was laughable. This is not a criticism of the author, as his bestseller is a work of fiction. The problem comes when people confuse fiction and nonfiction. It is imperative that Christians, especially Orthodox Christians, have a firm grasp of their faith and of church history. Faith and history go together. We cannot separate church history from what we believe.

The Orthodox understanding of truth is grounded in the Incarnation, the Son of God taking on human nature. Because the Son of God entered into human history, truth consists of more than a set of logically consistent concepts. Our faith is grounded in the historical figure Jesus of Nazareth, who asserted: I am the Truth. When Orthodoxy claims that the Christian Faith is the true faith, it is asserting that it is a real faith, based on historical events that actually happened. Because Christianity is grounded in reality, our salvation in Christ is a real salvation that has an impact on both the spiritual and physical realities. Constantine the Great Constantine was born at Naissus on February 27, 272 or 273, to Flavius Constantius and his wife Helena. Flavius Constantius was an army officer, and in 289 he divorced Constantine's mother to marry Theodora, the daughter of his commanding officer. Constantine embarked on his own military career, which took him all over the Roman Empire, from Palestine and Asia Minor to Britain, Spain, and Gaul.

While crossing the Alps with his army, Constantine had a vision (or dream) of a cross of light shining in front of the sun and the words: In this sign conquer. Shortly after that vision, Constantine defeated his rival, Maxentius, captured Rome, and was acclaimed the next emperor. History often turns upon certain pivotal events or individuals. Early Christianity faced two significant perils: one external—violent persecution by the Roman government, and one internal—the Arian heresy, which denied Christ's divinity. In a providential twist of events, God raised up an emperor who would play a key role in confronting each of these perils, becoming one of Christianity's greatest defenders. Constantine's rule precipitated an avalanche of events that radically altered the course of the history of Christianity. External Danger—Persecution Prior to Constantine's becoming emperor, the early Church was going through one of the fiercest and bloodiest of the persecutions by the Roman government, the Diocletian persecution. During this wave of persecution thousands of Christians lost their lives, churches were destroyed, and scriptures were burned. Then in 313, the situation reversed itself.

Constantine (with his co-emperor Licinus) issued the famous Edict of Milan, declaring Christianity to be a legal religion. Christianity was not yet the official religion of the Empire—this would not happen until 380 under Emperor Theodosius. And Constantine's edict of toleration was not the first—Galerius had issued a similar edict in 311. But it marked a major turning point for the Roman government. With the Edict of Milan, the three-centuries-long era of persecution came to an end. Contrary to popular belief, Constantine did not rescue Christianity from extinction. Even if he had not adopted the Christian cause, the majority of the Roman population was well on its way to becoming Christian. What Constantine did do was hasten the process of evangelizing the Roman Empire. Constantine's conversion marked the climax of a centuries-long process of evangelization that began in an obscure corner of the Roman Empire. For the first time, the entire structure of Roman civilization, from the emperor down to the lowliest slave, shared the Christian faith. Internal Danger—Heresy In the early fourth century, a theological controversy broke out that threatened to derail the Christian faith.

Arius taught that the Son of God had a beginning and was a created being. The controversy threatened deeply to divide the Christian Church, and in so doing to imperil the unity of the Roman Empire. Concerned for the unity of the empire, Constantine wrote letters to Bishop Alexander and to Arius, urging them to make up their differences and forgive each other. When that failed, he convened an ecumenical council of the entire Church. Previously there had been regional and local synods, but this was the first worldwide gathering of bishops. Constantine aided this historic gathering by covering the travel expenses of bishops coming from the far-flung corners of the empire. In order to repudiate the Arian heresy, the bishops inserted the word homoousios ("of the same essence") into the baptismal creed. By asserting that Christ was of the same essence as God the Father, the Council decisively affirmed the divinity of Christ. This was approved by an overwhelming majority of the Council (only three persons—including Arius—out of three hundred disagreed). Although Constantine may have suggested that homoousios be inserted into the creed, the word was not invented by him.

Even Arius made use of it, albeit in his arguments against the divinity of Christ. Although he presided over the council, it is an exaggeration to claim that Constantine controlled the direction of the Council of Nicea, as many Protestants argue. Many of the bishops present at the council were survivors of the Diocletian persecution and would have been more than willing to put their lives on the line for the gospel of Christ once more. Another weakness of the Protestant stereotype of Constantine is that it gives short shrift to the theological genius of Athanasius. Anyone who reads Athanasius' theological classic Against the Arians will see that it was Athanasius, not Constantine, who turned the tide against the Arian heresy. Also, the limitations of Constantine's ability to coerce the Church into doing his will can be seen in his earlier failure to resolve the Donatist controversy in 320. As W. H. C. Frend notes in The Rise of Christianity, "The lesson, however, had been learned.

Never again did he seek to beat into submission a movement within the church." Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine's legacy can be seen in Christianity's transformation from a private sect into a public church that encompassed the whole of society. He put it on an institutional footing, which enabled the Church to be the leading cultural force in the ancient world. The Christianization of Roman society can be seen as a partial fulfillment of Revelation 21:24: "The nations . . . shall walk in its [New Jerusalem] light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it." The Church is the New Jerusalem—replacing the Jerusalem of the Old Testament—which brings spiritual enlightenment to the pagan nations throughout the Roman Empire. However, a balanced assessment of the historical evidence shows that, as much as Constantine may have contributed to the Christianization of the Roman Empire, he did not originate Holy Tradition as many Protestants believe. Sunday as the day of worship. Although Sunday was made a public holiday, there is no evidence that it was Constantine who changed the Christians' day of worship from Saturday to Sunday.

Two first-century documents—Didache 14.1 and Ignatius' Letter to the Magnesians 9.1—document the fact that Christians worshiped on a different day from the Jewish Sabbath. As emperor, Constantine transformed what was once the private practice of an illegal sect into a public holiday for all Romans. Constantinople—the New Rome. With his decision to turn the sleepy village of Byzantinum into the Roman Empire's new capital city, Constantine laid the groundwork of what would become a major spiritual center, the Patriarchate of Constantinople. As the New Rome, Constantinople was intended to signal the Roman Empire's break with its pagan past and its embracing of Christianity. Under Constantine's orders, no pagan ceremonies were allowed in this city. While the original Rome and the Latin West entered into the Dark Ages, Constantinople thrived as a spiritual and political capital through the time of Columbus' voyage to America. Constantinople was also the springboard from which the missionary outreach to Russia would take place. The Council of Nicea and the biblical canon.

While Constantine played an important role at the First Ecumenical Council, there is no evidence that he had anything to do with deciding which books would go into the Bible. The Muratorian Canon (from the year 200) provides a list of New Testament documents that closely resembles the list found in today's Bible. Similar lists can be found in the writings of Origen (250) and Eusebius of Caesarea (300). It is true that Constantine ordered the burning of books by Arius, the anti-Christian philosopher Porphyry, the Novatians, the Marcionites, and others. But the fact remains that by the time Constantine became emperor, much of today's biblical canon was already in place. Constantine a Saint? Constantine died in 337. Shortly before his death, he was baptized by Eusebius of Nicomedia. Following his baptism, Constantine refused to wear the imperial purple and died wearing the white baptismal robe. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles just days after he had dedicated it. The day of his death—May 21—is commemorated in the Orthodox Church as a major feast day.

Skepticism about the sincerity of Constantine's Christianity stems from a number of factors. Constantine did not openly repudiate the pagan gods, but tolerated pagan belief even as he began favoring the Christians. Another source lies in his execution of his son, Crispus, and his wife, Fausta, in 326, a year after the Council of Nicea. A third factor was Constantine's delaying of his baptism until just a few days before his death. On closer examination, however, the basis for this skeptical attitude becomes problematic. Constantine's participation in the pagan rites most likely stemmed from his obligations as military and political leader. Regarding his execution of his son and wife, it is not clear what the reasons were. Unless the reasons for this drastic action are known, it is not fair to condemn Constantine. Also, modern evangelicalism may frown on deathbed conversions, but in the early Church such delaying of one’s baptism was not uncommon. Constantine's conversion follows more closely the Orthodox understanding of salvation than the Protestant understanding. Where Protestants, especially evangelicals, tend to see salvation in terms of a one-time conversion experience, Orthodoxy sees salvation as a mystery and as a process that unfolds over time.

While Constantine's personal faith may be a matter of debate, his historical contributions to the Church under his reign are undeniable. Frend writes, "The 'Age of the Fathers' would have been impossible without Constantine's conversion. The church's councils under the emperor's guidance became assemblies where the new, binding relationship with the Christian God, on which the safety of the empire depended, was established." The Orthodox Church sees Constantine as the emperor who assisted the early Church in evangelizing the Roman Empire. For this reason it honors him as Saint Constantine Equal-to-the-Apostles. Constantine and the Church For Orthodoxy, Constantine represents an important link to the past. The persecuted underground Church and the official state Church are the same Church. Constantine played a key role in the historic transition from the former to the latter. For Orthodox Christianity, there is no "fall of the Church." The Orthodox Church believes that it stands in unbroken continuity with the Church of the first century.

There is a popular belief among evangelicals that the true Church was the underground Church, which refused to compromise with the worldly state Church, and that this true Church remained in hiding over the following centuries, leaving few records of its existence until it was rediscovered by the Protestants in the sixteenth century. The main problem with this belief is not only the absence of supporting evidence, but the presence of contrary evidence. Eusebius, in Books IV and V of his History of the Church, provides a chronological listing of bishops that goes back to the original apostles. Present-day Orthodox bishops and patriarchs are able to trace their spiritual and historical lineage back to the original apostles, something that Protestants cannot do. Symphonia—The Harmony of Faith and Politics Constantine's support for the early Church laid the foundation for the doctrine of symphonia—the ideal of political and religious leaders working in harmony to realize God's will here on earth. This ideal is rooted in the Lord's Prayer: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Symphonia avoids two extremes: the separation of Church from State on the one hand, and the fusion of Church and State on the other.

Despite his active participation in the Ecumenical Council, Constantine did not view himself as one of the bishops, but rather as "bishop of those outside." This ideal found concrete expression in the Byzantine Empire, which lasted for a thousand years. Under Constantine's rule began the transformation of Roman culture. Execution by crucifixion ceased, gladiatorial battles as punishment ended. Symphonia has a number of important implications for Orthodox Christians. One is that the Church is called to pray for those in power, even if they are not Christians. For Orthodoxy, symphonia is the ideal situation, but not the only one. Christianity is not tied to any one particular political structure. Another implication is that there is no separation between the physical and the spiritual (belief in dualism is an early heresy). Orthodoxy is both a personal and a public faith. The Orthodox Church encourages good citizenship, public service along with philanthropy. Its preference for lay involvement in politics helps avoid the dangers of theocratic rule. It is expected that Orthodox Christians will bring the values of the Church into the political and social realms. Venerating a Great Saint Today The Orthodox Church today honors the memory of Constantine in several ways. Many Orthodox parishes are named after him.

I attend Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Pacific. On Sunday mornings, soon after I enter the church, I see the icon of Christ sitting on the throne. I also see the icon of Constantine and his mother, Helen. Inside the church up in front I see Constantine and Helen on the icon screen. They are now part of the great cloud of witnesses cheering us on to finish the spiritual race (Hebrews 12). During the Sunday Liturgy, just before the scripture readings, the following troparion (hymn) is sung: Your servant Constantine, O Lord and only Lover of Man, Beheld the figure of the Cross in the heavens, And like Paul, not having received his call from men, But as an apostle among rulers set by Your hand over the royal city, He preserved lasting peace through the prayers of the Theotokos. The troparion celebrates God's sovereignty in human history: how God selected a pagan Roman soldier, converted him through a miraculous vision of the Cross, and made him emperor and one of the greatest evangelists in the history of Christianity. Robert Arakaki has an M.A. in Church History from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

He recently earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Originally published by AGAIN Magazine, 2005 Conciliar Press Ministries Inc. Edict of Milan - OrthodoxWiki Edict of Milan Jump to: navigation , search Chi Rho, the first two letters of Jesus Christ in Greek, which Constantine saw in a vision along with the words "in hoc signo vinces" ("in this sign you will conquer"). The Edict of Milan was a declaration issued in 313 by the Emperor Constantine which made all religions legal within the Roman Empire, though it was especially intended to legalize Christianity. Paganism , the official religion of the Empire and particularly of the army, was disestablished as such, and property which had previously been confiscated from Christians was returned. The Edict followed Constantine the Great's 312 conversion of his entire army preceding the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, after which he gained control of the Western portion of the Empire.

Before this battle, according to Eusebius , Constantine had a vision of either the sign of the cross or of a Chi Rho emblem (both symbolizing Christ), under which was written "in hoc signo vinces" (i.e., in this sign thou shalt conquer). Unfortunately, the Edict did not end all persecution of Christians happily ever after; Licinius, the Eastern Emperor, soon marched against Constantine to gain control of the whole Empire for himself. In so doing, he made void the Edict in an attempt to gain the support of pagans, particularly those who composed much of the military. Constantine, however, eventually defeated and executed him. After Constantine, emperors such as Julian the Apostate also rose against Christianity. However, on the whole Constantine had turned the tide against Christian persecution. Source

Question: Which Roman emperor issued 'The Edict of Milan' and endedthe persecution of Christians?
Answer: CONSTANTINE